WENCESLAU DE MORAES, SUAS OBRAS E O SERVIÇO EXTERIOR PORTUGUÊS NA ÁSIA慕拉士，其作品及葡萄牙在亞洲的外交事務
The article examines the figure of Wenceslau de Moraes at the intersection of literary production and Portuguese foreign service in Asia, arguing that his work functioned as cultural mediation and, simultaneously, as an instrument of symbolic support for the foreign policies of the Portuguese state....
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
2015
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40049/2332 |
| Summary: | The article examines the figure of Wenceslau de Moraes at the intersection of literary production and Portuguese foreign service in Asia, arguing that his work functioned as cultural mediation and, simultaneously, as an instrument of symbolic support for the foreign policies of the Portuguese state. To sustain this thesis, the author mobilizes a historical-literary approach anchored in the nineteenth-century context, marked by the acceleration of trade routes, tourism, and new recording technologies (such as photography), which redefined Western interests in the “Orient.” It then briefly reconstructs aspects of the writer-official’s life and career, situating his missions and institutional ties within the framework of Portuguese presence in the region. Based on a characterization of works such as *Traços do Extremo Oriente*, *Paisagens da China e do Japão*, and *Dai-Nippon*, the text identifies narrative procedures oriented toward ocular observation and the elaboration of cultural “landscapes” intended for the Western reader. It concludes that Moraes offered the Lusophone public a discourse of rapprochement with the Asian world, combining aesthetic sensibilities with content of diplomatic interest, thereby reinforcing the relevance of his writing as a practice of knowledge and international projection. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |